This invention relates generally to conveyor systems for conveying articles and, more particularly, to a separation conveyor system which de-stacks, aligns and compresses random clusters of articles into a generally single file arrangement. The present invention also relates generally to article side by side eliminators or singulators for conveyors, which function to separate articles traveling side by side along the conveyor and orient the articles in a singular, in line manner. More particularly, the present invention relates to a conveyor system having one or more article singulators, destackers and/or aligners, which are operable to unstack articles which are stacked upon one another as they are conveyed, and to align and arrange the articles along one side of the conveyor as they are discharged from the system. The article separation system is operable to continuously move the articles along the conveyor while arranging the articles in the unstacked, singular and in line manner.
Many conveyor operations, especially those used in the processing of mail, receive a variety of articles varying in height, length and depth. Normally, these articles are received in a random fashion, and are often xe2x80x9cdumpedxe2x80x9d or placed onto an input conveyor such that the articles are piled one upon another in a non-symmetrical, vertical orientation. Once the articles are positioned on the input conveyor, they are transported downstream to a scanning area or station wherein information contained on an exterior surface of the articles is scanned by one of a variety of scanning devices normally employed in the art, such as, for example, an optical character recognition system, a bar code reading system, or a video code system. Prior to introduction to the scanning station, the articles must be rearranged to eliminate the vertical stacking, and to assume a single file with a generally uniform distance or gap between adjacent articles. Failure to effectively separate the articles along the conveyor system prior to the scanning procedure prevents the scanner from receiving data from each article necessary to properly sort and divert the articles during downstream processing. If the articles are not effectively identified, errors occur in the sortation and diversion process, which in turn reduces the throughput or efficiency of the conveyor and sortation system.
The industry has addressed the need to separate and singulate articles by providing a variety of unscrambling or singulation conveyors, which are operable to separate articles from one another as they travel along the conveyor. Many conveyors include devices which function to ensure that the articles arriving at the discharge end of the conveyor are arranged in a non-stacked manner, while other devices are provided to align the articles. This substantially eases the unloading and/or sorting process at the discharge end of the conveyor. However, many of these singulation conveyors are complex in structure and operation, thereby increasing both manufacturing and maintenance costs of the conveyor system.
Furthermore, if a conventional singulation conveyor experiences a high volume of articles in a short period of time, a bottleneck may form, whereby the singulation conveyor may be incapable of handling the temporary increase in article quantity. As a result, either the conveyor line is temporarily shut down until the surge in article flow passes, or the singulation conveyor inadequately singulates the articles. The inability of the singulation conveyor to handle sudden increases in article quantity reduces the efficiency of the conveyor system.
Additionally, other devices for separating articles are known and function to separate side by side articles and arrange them on a conveyor in a generally in line orientation. However, many such devices are complicated and expensive devices. For example, one such device comprises a plurality of side by side thin belts which are separated by blocks or surfaces which may be raised above the belts. The device includes a camera or sensor which detects when two articles are traveling side by side along the conveyor. The blocks are then raised on one side of the device to temporarily stop movement of one of the articles, while the other article proceeds along the device via movement of the thin belts. After a sufficient gap separates the two articles, the blocks are lowered so the thin belts again move the article along the conveyor, but at a distance behind the other article. Not only are such devices expensive, but they also reduce the throughput of the conveyor, since they stop one of the articles for a period of time to allow the other article to proceed ahead.
Typically, in order to align the articles on the conveyor, such as along one side of the conveyor, an alignment section may be provided to move the articles toward one side of the conveyor. The alignment section may comprise a plurality of rollers which are angled or skewed across the conveyor section, such that the rollers move the article downstream and toward one side of the conveyor section. However, in order to provide a generally continuous conveying surface from an input conveyor onto the alignment conveyor, the rollers at each end of such alignment conveyors must be progressively shorter toward the ends to accommodate the angle or skew of the rollers relative to the parallel sidewalls of the conveying portion. Having rollers of non-uniform length at the ends is undesirable, since this results in gaps between the ends of the shorter rollers and the feed or discharge conveyor, which may further result in articles becoming lodged or stuck in the gaps as the articles are moved onto or off from the alignment section of the conveyor.
Therefore, there exists a need for an article separation conveyor system capable of effectively separating, de-stacking and/or aligning articles. The conveyor system should be economical to manufacture and maintain.
The present invention provides a separation conveyor system having a destacking conveying apparatus, a separating or singulating conveying apparatus and/or an aligning apparatus. Articles which are input onto the conveyor system in a random manner are discharged therefrom in a generally single file, aligned manner. The separation conveyor system of the present invention provides a unique and effective method of separating articles prior to their conveyance to a scanning device which identifies the articles for induction into a sortation system.
According to an aspect of the present invention, an aligning apparatus includes an angled conveyor section, a vertically oriented conveyor along a downstream side of the conveyor section, and aligning means for aligning articles such that they are discharged in a generally in line manner onto an output conveyor. The angled conveyor section is positioned between a discharge end of an input conveyor and an input end of the output conveyor, which is laterally offset from the input conveyor. The angled conveyor section is operable to convey articles from the input conveyor generally toward the downstream side of the angled conveyor section and onto the output conveyor. As the articles are conveyed along the angled conveyor section, the articles are directed toward the vertical conveyor belt, which guides the articles therealong, whereby they are discharged in a substantially linear, aligned manner onto the output conveyor. The vertical conveyor preferably includes a vertically oriented conveying belt which is positioned such that a lower edge of the belt is below a conveying surface defined by the angled conveyor section. The vertical conveyor functions to maintain the articles along the side of the conveying portion, while being further operable to slow the movement of the articles, in order to enhance separation and alignment of the articles.
In one form, the aligning means is an arcuate section of the angled conveyor and/or an arcuate section of the vertical conveyor. In another form, the aligning means is a second conveyor having skewed rollers and a second vertically oriented conveyor.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a side by side eliminating conveyor or article singulator is positioned along at least one conveying surface and includes at least one generally rigid redirecting member. The article singulator is operable to arrange articles in a generally in line and unstacked manner while the conveying surface is continuously operable to continuously convey the articles therealong.
In one form, the side by side eliminating conveyor includes at least one, and preferably two, redirecting members which function to redirect the articles as the articles are continuously conveyed along the conveying surface. The side by side eliminator or singulator preferably includes a pair of redirecting members at opposite sides of the conveying surface, with one being positioned downstream from the other, such that the articles are sequentially redirected by both of the redirecting members as they are conveyed along the conveying surface. The conveying surface may further comprise two or three conveying surfaces, such that the articles are redirected from one surface onto another surface, which may be operable at a different speed from the first conveying surface.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a destacking conveying apparatus includes an input conveyor, a first conveyor operated at a first speed, a second conveyor operated at a second speed, and an output conveyor generally aligned with a direction of conveyance of the input conveyor. At least a portion of the first conveyor is inclined and has an output end, while at least a portion of the second conveyor is inclined and has an input end proximate to and at a height at least partially below a height of the output end of the first conveyor. The first and second conveyors are continuously operable to convey articles along the article destacking conveyor, with the second speed being greater than said first speed. The conveyors of said article destacking conveyor are configured to form a loop between the input and output conveyors.
The conveyors are operated at sequentially higher speeds to destack and thereby create a distance or gap between articles transferred from an output end of one conveyor and onto the next successive conveyor. Articles transferred from one conveyor to the next are progressively separated with the gap between adjacent articles increasing as the articles move between conveyors. As many article separation conveyors as are necessary to effectively separate articles may be placed in a single conveyor line.
Another aspect of the present invention provides an article separation conveyor system which combines a destacking apparatus, a side by side eliminating apparatus and an aligning apparatus in an article separating conveyor system. The article separation conveyor system is operable to separate and align articles as they are continuously conveyed therealong. The destacking conveyor includes first and second inclined conveying portions which are continuously operable to convey articles upward and drop the articles onto an adjacent downstream conveying portion. The side by side eliminating conveyor includes a third conveying portion and at least one generally rigid diverting member extending at least partially across the third conveying portion. The side by side eliminating conveyor is operable to arrange articles in a generally in line and unstacked manner while the third conveying portion is continuously operable to convey the articles therealong. The aligning conveyor includes an angled conveyor section positioned between a discharge end of an input conveyor and an input end of an output conveyor. The output conveyor is laterally offset from the input conveyor and downstream from the roller conveyor. The angled conveyor has a downstream side and is operable to convey articles from the input conveyor generally toward the downstream side and onto the output conveyor. The aligning conveyor includes a vertically oriented conveyor positioned along the downstream side of the angled conveyor. The article separation conveyor is operable to continuously convey articles along the destacking conveyor, the side by side eliminating conveyor and the aligning conveyor to separate, destack and align the articles such that the articles are discharged in a generally separated and inline manner on the output conveyor. The discharge conveyor section may include gap setting portions, scanning devices and/or the like to orient and identify the articles as they are conveyed downstream toward and onto an induction station of a sortation system.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for separating and aligning articles as they are conveyed along a conveyor comprises separating and destacking articles by conveying the articles along at least two inclined conveyors which convey the articles up along inclined conveying surfaces and drop the articles onto an adjacent downstream conveyor. The method further includes eliminating side by side positioning of articles by redirecting articles from one side of a conveyor to the other via at least one rigid diverting member. The method further includes aligning articles in a generally in line manner by conveying articles along an angled conveyor positioned between two laterally offset conveyor sections. The angled conveyor preferably includes rollers which are rotatable about axes generally normal to a direction of conveyance of the two laterally offset conveyor sections and operable to convey articles downstream toward a downstream side of the angled conveyor. The method further includes discharging the articles onto a downstream one of the two laterally offset conveyor sections.
Accordingly, the conveyor system of the present invention is operable to de-stack and separate articles as they are conveyed through the destacking apparatus and/or the side by side eliminating apparatus, and then is further operable to align and arrange the articles in a desired manner via the aligning apparatus for scanning at a downstream conveying portion. The destacking apparatus and side by side eliminating apparatus may be positioned upstream or downstream from one another, and preferably upstream of the aligning apparatus. The conveying system may be operable with one or more of the separating and aligning devices, depending on the application. Each device or apparatus may be operable in a conveying system independent of the other conveying devices.